2015/10/15

Angela Summerfield

The creation of my oil paintings involves initial purposeful wanderings. In practical terms, familiarisation and authentic experiences are reinforced by an assemblage of visual, auditory, haptic and somatic material: sketches, notations, maps, guide-books, old postcards, poetry, music, photographs, and "found" objects, such as leaves and pine cones. The resultant studio paintings are carefully conceived re-presentations and re-compositions, which retain a figurative presence. The history of landscape symbolism, in art, literature and music, lies at the heart of such works, where an emphasis is given to colour and light and how this impacts upon our senses and memory. In 'As the Wind Traverses the Land, So the Breath of Life Passes On' the rich and carefully modulated colourings, using a variety of brush strokes and layering, deliberately evoke the jewel-like presence of Renaissance altarpieces, such as the Sacra Conversazione, and their associated meanings. The "heavenly" blue of the sky finds its counterpoint in the visual complexity of the earth and the secular world (the fallen leaves, brambles and bracken on the moss-covered moist earth) while the blood-red leaves read as both the loss and beginning of life. The title refers to change, loss and the continuity which we all experience in our lives. Just as the seasons, weather and time of day change and follow natural patterns, so too does human life and our lived experiences. In 'The Life of the Forest (The Forest's Music)' a metaphorical and aesthetically harmonious whole is suggested through the arching flowing structure of naturally growing silver birches and the stained-glass vision of the land beyond the branches's twigs.